Peru-Chile border hit by 6.2 quake

Lima, May 14, 2012

A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook the border area straddling southern Peru and northern Chile early on Monday, but there were no reports of damage, the Andean neighbors' national emergency offices said.

The US Geogolgical Survey said the quake struck 41 miles (66 km) east-northeast of Tacna in Peru, and 66 miles (107 km) northeast of Arica in the far north of world number one copper producer Chile.

The tremor hit at a depth of 61.1 miles (98.3 km), it said.

The quake was initially recorded as magnitude 5.9.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Chile, said a spokeswoman for Chile's state emergency office (Onemi).

In Lima, a spokesman for the emergency operations center of the National Civil Defense Institute (Indeci) said there were no immediate reports of damage, though an official at Peru's Geophysics Institute said electricity was disrupted in the southern Peruvian region near the border with Chile.

Quakes are common in Chile, which was hit by a devastating 8.8 magnitude temblor in early 2010 which triggered tsunamis that battered the south-central Chilean coastline in a disaster which killed around 500 people and ravaged industries. – Reuters